well, I guess that is a lawyer question. Logically, one would assume you aren’t posting to social media for altruistic reasons, therefore you are at least hoping that the post would get you work or get your name out there.
If you just do PW in my state, and never make more than $500 on a job, technically I think you could get by without registering. I don’t know how someone would never get a job over $500, but I guess you could break a big job into segments and bid them seperately. Once again, lawyer word smithing.
It only costs about $50 to register, it is good for 2 years, then you have to pay the fee again. They require proof of insurance to register. According to some journalist’s reports that I read, no one was checking this information.
Sup guys
My name is Devin Trussell. I’ve been living in Mobile AL for about 7 years now. I’m currently working shiftwork as a board operator, looking to generate some extra income on the side in the power washing game. I’ve been learning a lot from this forum, YouTube, Heath Phelps’s book, and my own mistakes. I’ve been piecing my setup together for a several months now. I currently have a BE skid mount 5gpm 3000psi belt driven pump, BE 20in. surface cleaner and a dedicated 12V softwash system using a white 65 gal drum I bought for $10. I’m using a 5.5 gpm everflow pump attached to roughly 180ft of 1/2" flexzilla hose. I’m using a 275 gal tote as my buffer tank. It’ll sit in the back of my truck. Everything else will be mounted on my 5x8 ut trailer on a platform I’m building (hope to be done with it soon, if I can ever get a day off. lol). I’ll post some pics when I’m done. I’m still working on getting other bits and bobs like strainers, consumables, a downstream injector, etc. I’ve done a couple of practice jobs for family, friends, and on my own house, but I’m still very much a noob. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for having me!
Your welcome. I don’t know what NJ does, but PA requires the collection of sales and use tax, PW can be construed as a job requiring the collection of sales tax on each job. Discuss this with your lawyer. I did, and read the law, and called Harrisburg and talked to their lawyers in the revenue department. I won’t get into the whole real vs tangible personal property thing.
Hey guys, rookie here, just getting started in my journey. I am starting a pw business in St. Louis, Mo. just picked up a Simpson 4400 psi 4gpm machine. I have a few other things on the way. I want to get washing, so come spring I have an idea of what I can do. Is winterizing your equipment a pain or would my insulated garage be fine? It shouldn’t get down to freezing for a couple weeks. Thanks in advance & I look forward to learning a ton.
Hi Guys!
This is Jesse, formerly Atlas1, here. I’m back under a new name for a short time to help a close friend get started in the business. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying some R&R during the winter slow period.
Hello PWR. Long time listener, first time caller from Central Texas. I am a 17 year career Firefighter. It’s been awesome to see so many other FF’s in the PW/SW world that are able to make this a successful business. I have always worked at a side hustle. For 9 yrs I was a baggage handler for Delta so the family and I could get free flights. Probably will end back up there some day if I’m honest. Starting my business from scratch this year. This forum has been such a big help. I bought one of the classes online and it was good to kind of rip of the band aid and get a good starting point for what will be needed, but I wish I would of found this sooner. Big thanks to @TexasPressureWashing You’re web page has been a huge help. I am trying to find the goldilocks zone for starting out. I have good equipment coming, going to build a nice small setup on a trailer, and I am committed to spending a decent chunk on marketing this year. I promised my wife that I would at the very least break even this year. LOL. I am excited to get out there and start washing and learning. If anyone is in the Central Texas area, or hell DFW and Houston included, I am willing to come out for a few days and bust my ■■■ as an unpaid “intern” to get real on the job experience. I am feeling extremely overwhelmed with the tech side of things right now. I’m trying to teach myself how to use Wordpress to build a website and it’s a disaster. I feel like a dinosaur working a printing press. I am going to use Markate and probably Responsibid. If anyone can offer advice for that I am all ears. Like I said, I am commited to this thing for the year and want to see if I can actually get some traction and potentially scale? Or maybe just be happy making some fun money on the side? Either way it’s going to be a busy year. Looking fwd to getting to know a few of yall. Sorry for the long ramble.
Welcome! Minimal knowledge on Markate, I only used it to test drive, but went back to Jobber instead…if you have any questions on ResponsiBid I’d be happy to help. It’s amazing software (especially for client facing stuff) but has a lot of things that can yield screwy output if you don’t have things setup just right. Make sure it’s working how you want it before you turn on the online estimates side of it…we don’t even let people do that anymore. David over there is very responsive too.
Thanks! The online estimate/instant quote tool is really what was selling me on it. Would you recommend me prioritizing responsibid? At $200ish a month its pretty expensive if I’m just starting. I really liked the idea of somebody just doing it all from their couch and responsibid being my 24/7 salesman. If I chose not to do it right away, is there something else cheaper you’d recommend?
We did it early in the company’s life cycle, but now having dedicated sales it makes more sense to just have them go through the questions with the client over the phone. RB is awesome IMO. You have to make sure to setup the good/better/best scenario, and their new bundling system sells stuff like crazy (no data on it bc I just changed the way we record them in our recordkeeping system, so I can see exactly that, but a solid “feel” that people are adding stuff on due to it for sure. In our case, even after a call with a CSR, they add stuff the CSR didn’t uncover that they needed, purely because we offered them the option. In the beginning you’ll have a fairly simple pricing system, and if you aren’t intent on growing (scaling) it will probably stay mostly that way. I can’t say it will pay for itself, but if you had to pay a salesperson 10%, you don’t have to sell a whole lot to make it worthwhile for you.
Ok I am going to stick with it. I’m really trying to set myself up in a way that I could scale if I wanted too. If this year goes off without any major disasters then I want to go all in next year. Baby steps. I’ve got signs and door hangers coming and I can’t wait to pound the pavement. I think I am honestly excited the most because this is the first time that the success is truly in my hands. I could go on and on with the questions about set up. do you use online insurance or a local broker? Did you build your own website? CPA and the best deductions? Could I or should I try and get a newer truck if it’s gonna be a right off? lol. I drive a 2006 1500 that’s in great shape and only 150 miles on it. I could go on and on and on. I feel like most of the washing answers I can find here fairly easy. It’s the business side of things that I am mostly unsure of. Trying to figure out some of the biggest pitfalls that could of been easily avoided that guys have made. So far guys like @Racer and @Firefighter4hire have been popping up on threads I have been checking out. They’ve been helpful and I will be doing a deep dive on more of their input. Thanks again for taking the time to respond. This thread is my first forum to actually engage on. I usually am just scrolling through random forums that google sends me to when I’m trying to find out how to fix something that I broke.
First let me thank you for letting me be a part of this community,
I live in Portugal worked on energy utilities related with solar energy my whole career and now want to try starting my own business of pressure washing, here in Portugal I don’t see any ads or trucks doing that job so I’ll give it a shot,
Glad that I can learn a lot here to start my business since in Europe I can’t seem to find most of the machines I see recommended on YouTube I’ll need some help to get me started and add-ons that I’ll need to start, I’ve been doing some research for the past few month here and there when I have some spare time but I know nothing to be honest, so I really have to dig in in what I need to make my list of equipment and get going, I’ll start by doing some houses of family and friends to try everything out before going door to door selling my services but I don’t want to spend money on something just to see I need something better to be professional and do a good job, I want all clients to say they are really satisfied and that they couldn’t ask for more, that’s my goal,
Hello. My name is Louis and I am at the very beginning of starting my pressure washing business (literally the 1st day of doing research). I am so happy I found this forum, as I can see with some quick browsing, how helpful everyone is. I ran a dog boarding business for the past 10 years and now want to try something different. I just moved back to New York and will be starting my pressure washing business in a beach community in Queens, NY. I look forward to contributing to this community and keeping you updated on my journey and progress!
I’ve had my lawn & landscape business for 8 years now and decided last year I want something less labor intensive, so I’ve jumped into power washing! I was able to get a few jobs from current lawn customers doing their houses and driveways.
I have a basic setup, 4gpm 4000 psi washer that I downstream sh with for houses, 20in surface cleaner, and I will be getting a 12v soft wash setup going this year early spring.
Very excited to get out of lawn and landscape (to much overhead on machinery)
